Grace Slick
by Tyler Woods on Aug. 04, 2011, under Life
I was watching a interview on YouTube the other day and it was on one of my favorite rock stars as a kid. I did not recognize this woman at first. I had to double check to make sure I had the correct video. I watched and as I watched this lady do her interview, I began to realize something, we all age and it got me thinking…
I was a kid and rather young want to be hippy when I place the vinyl record on my turn table and picked up my guitar to figure out the chords to my favorite song. “One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small.” I had to keep my voice down because my parents belonged to a strict religion and I did not want to get caught so I played it softly over and over and it became my favorite song. Fifteen years later, I was playing in a rock and roll band and I was on stage playing the song “White Rabbit”.
Grace Slick made that song. Her cunning voice ripped a hole into your soul when she sang. She played in the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship. As a teen I had a chance to see her in concert. Her voice was thunderous. Not bad for a woman who was not an original member of the band. Her song White Rabbit and Somebody To Love made Jefferson Airplane one of the top bands that introduced acid rock.
Slicks’ real name is Grace Barnett Wing and that is the name she now goes by as a very well known artist, which is not surprising since she majored in art in college. Though she did not make her living doing that, she was a model for some time before her and her then husband Jerry Slick formed a band called Great Society that debut in San Francisco in 1965. They recorded White Rabbit as a demo, which by the way, Grace wrote as a slap to parents who enjoyed reading their kids bedtime stories like Alice in Wonderland.
Perfect I thought because it really was one of the first songs with drug references that literally got past radio censors. This is how Grace Slicks life would be, Drugs, sex and rock and roll. She was cutting edge before she even became one of the biggest figures in women’s rock in the 60s and 70s. In 1966 Jefferson Airplane asked her to join their band and of course the rest is history.
The great news is Grace has recently been reappearing as well aged white haired woman who is showing even more of her talent as an artist. She paints portraits of her favorite pals Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jerry Garcia. She has wonderful pictures of Alice in Wonderland, Humpty Dumpty, The mad hatter and so much more. You can check out some of her art work here.
http://www.peabodyfineart.com/slick/index.htm
What I know as a writer and musician is Grace Slick was a real part of the 60s movement and they just are not as slick as Slick. I am glad she has found a place in her life as an artist and I tip my mad hatters hat off to this woman of rock.
By the way, if you want to see the Grace Slick Interview here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAiQf-jQhWI
